by RON WEATHERFORD
The ECI softball team kicked off the 2022 season playing in the Harlem Classic Friday. The Lady Dawgs came away defeating both opponents for the night defeating two region champions.
The first game saw the Dawgs against AAAAAA Evans High School with a 9-2 win. They faced class AA state runner-up Vidalia in the second game, defeating the Indians 7-3.
The Bulldogs bats were in mid-season form Friday picking up 21 hits while the pitching staff allowed just 7 hits.
The Lady Dawgs scored in every inning against the Evans Knights except the sixth inning, putting multiple runs on the board in 4 of the innings.
Leadoff batter Kelsey Harper led the offense going 3-3 with Jayna Kearson right behind going 2-4 including a leadoff homerun in the third inning.
Class A player of the year, pitcher Charla Clifton, began where she left off limiting the Knights to 4 hits while striking out seven. Clifton and her defense held Evans off the bases allowing one hit in first and second innings and 2 more in the third.
The second game had ECI facing AA state runner-up Vidalia. The Bulldogs held the Indians to just 3 hits with a 7-3 win.
The Lady Dawgs put 2 on the board in the first inning, adding 4 more in the third to take a 6-3 lead. They added one more in the fifth inning. Kaylan Lamb led off the inning with a single after a walk by Kayanna Thompson and singles by Harper and Kearson.
The Indians couldn’t keep Kearson off the bases with the sophomore third baseman ending the game going 4-4 at the plate. Harper’s hot streak Friday continued going 3-4.
Sullee Boddiford started the game for ECI limiting the Indians to 2 hits in her 3 innings of work. Clifton closed out the game giving up just one hit the final 2 innings.
The Bulldogs have two games on the schedule this week. Tuesday (yesterday) they played Harlem in the home opener and will play South Effingham Thursday in Guyton with both JV and Varsity games to begin at 4 p.m.
